Wrestling’s 4R’s Friday Edition 02.06.09: RETRO TNA, Raw and ECW on Sci-Fi Reviewed!

Posted by Larry Csonka on 02.06.2009

It’s the Friday edition of the 4R’s, and Jamie Noble is here to boost ratings!

How the 4R's of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R's. The column will run TWO times a week. On Tuesdays I will discuss TNA Impact and Jeremy will discuss WWE Smackdown. Also, if there is a PPV, that will be covered in this column as well. The column will run again on Friday's, covering WWE Raw (with Jeremy Thomas) as well as ECW on Sci-Fi. If there is a PPV that weekend, I will also run the RETRO R's of the show from the year before as well as address some comments when time permits. I will group my feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and need discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles, Diva searches and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come, unless you are TNA. They have a special R all of their own, the 6th R; the Russo-FN-Riffic~! This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a "mark" column, nor a "smark" column, my goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. I will not apologize for my opinions, they are as they are, whether positive or negative.

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By: Jeremy Thomas

Raw 02.02.09

The Right:

WE CALL THESE THINGS "RETCONS": Raw picked up with Shane McMahon coming out to start off the show. Right off the bat, Shane-O looked a hell of a lot better…it looks as if he got a bit of his Just For Men in his hair and quite possibly lost a bit of weight. Perhaps it's just that black is very slimming; either way, Shane looked a hell of a lot better and it adds credence to my theory that Shane's appearance was decided too late for Shane-O to get ready. Shane did his little dance, then came down to the ring to let us know that Shane McMahon vs. Randy Orton was set for No Way Out. Shane cut a good promo—not surprising, as when the man talks he always delivers—about how he was going to do his best to make sure that Randy wasn't even going to get to WrestleMania. Orton then showed up, a much higher ration of heat than usual, and told Shane that the only way that he only got as effective as he did because he told Ted and Cody not to fight back because as soon as he did he knew that the entire Raw roster would jump them. Okay, I can accept that, even if it is an after-the-fact whitewash of what happened. Randy actually managed to top Shane with the "call the hospital your father's at and reserve a bed right next to him" bit; I couldn't help but be amused as the crowd started chanting for Randy at one point and he had to try and no-sell it as a chant against him. The segment then took a bit of a downturn as they spent too long teasing whether Orton was going to attack or not; Shane managing to derail the sneak attack with the kendo stick was nice because while none of them were seriously hurt (and thus Shane burying the talent) they were foiled, and Shane looks smart. This is a good way to go, because the most important part here is that the more they build Shane up, the more his loss to Randy at No Way Out will help the Legacy. This was good stuff all around and I was happy.

WILLIAM REGAL AND LAYLA vs. CM PUNK AND MICKIE JAMES: Nice to see they're still moving on with this feud rather than do the title switch and move them on; I feel there's a lot of mileage that can be gotten out of Punk vs. Regal, and it would make both men look great. So, Punk, Mickie, Regal, Layla. One of these things is not like the others, folks. I will give Layla this though, she's really starting to get more relaxed in her character and is expressing it better. Unfortunately, her wrestling isn't any better yet and she just looked bad in there with Mickie for the few moments that they were competing together; luckily that wasn't particularly long. The focus on this match was Punk and Regal the way it should have been and for the most part they delivered, both in terms of the in-ring work and the emotions they were projecting. Regal hates Punk for costing him the title, and he's playing that off very nicely. They had some good, stiff work in there against each other and the women served their purpose when Regal used Layla as his shield, which would eventually lead to Punk getting knocked to the floor and them taking the running knee lift for the pin. There was really nothing to complain about here for the most part; a mostly good match, Regal pins Punk to continue the feud and both men look good.

WAIT, I THOUGHT ORTON WAS THE LEGEND-KILLER…: When we came back to ringside, Chris Jericho was already in the ring, drawing the crowd's ire. Jericho wanted to clarify his comments from Larry King by saying that he did respect Rourke's performance, as well as his cowardly backtracking crawl out of a potential WrestleMania match. However, Jericho pointed out that The Wrestler glorified pathetic has-beens like Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Ric Flair and spent his time ripping Flair down for autograph signings and tell-all interviews to "low rent websites." Ouch. Jericho was as good as ever with the Flair ripping; I foresee a Legend returning to take on Jericho at WrestleMania if Rourke/Jericho doesn't end up back on, and Rourke ending up at ringside managing, which wouldn't be a bad idea as long as it's not Flair. Cena showed up on the ‘Tron to put Chris in his place, pointing out that he'd been fired twice but he was still there "hanging on" and that he was holding onto the past by calling himself the first Undisputed champion over and over. Cena wasn't trying to be funny here and it worked out fairly well; trying to be the jokey guy here would have played entirely wrong. This set up potential WrestleMania stuff and hyped the main event while not sucking in any way shape or form; sounds like a winner to me.

REY REY & KOFI KINGSTON vs. MIKE KNOX & KANE: This was preceded by the EPIC RETURN of the WWE Slam of the Week, which was Kofi beating Kane last week to earn his spot in the Elimination Chamber. Of course, the crowd popped quite nicely for Kofi and Rey Rey; it was actually kind of nice to see them speed up the entrances a little to allow them to have a little more time in the match. We also found out—officially, anyway—that Knox is in the Elimination Chamber now, which I am remarkably okay with. Let them push the younger talent in these multi-man gimmick title matches; they have to try to get a new upper mid-card somehow. This match was given a surprising amount of time, and a lot of work was done to make Kofi in particular look good, as he looked very strong early on against Kane. Of course, Rey Rey was mostly there to play the face-in-peril during portions of the match, which was fine as Knox and Kofi are the guys who need to be put over to look more like threats then they currently do. Kofi actually got his own chant while he was in trouble in there against Mountain Man Mike, which is a positive sign for the kid. Kane got the win at the end with a very impressive catch of Rey right into a choke slam for the pin. This put Knox and Kofi over pretty well and got Kane some of his heat back from his loss to Kofi last week and was a surprisingly good match given time to boot. Color me surprised, but this was damned good.

SHANE & STEPH GET THEIRS: Shane-O and Stephanie were walking backstage and talking when they got ambushed by the Legacy, who bumped Steph into the wall before turning their attention on Shane and beating the ever-loving hell out of him. This was a flat-out gang-style beating, which is exactly what Legacy needs to do as befitting their characters. Shane sold the beating nicely, and for those who will complain that it took three guys to beat down Shane, I scoff and say that they didn't NEED all three to beat Shane-O, they just used them because…well, why not? Add in the fact that the guys who came to help Shane got quickly beaten down too and the Legacy came out of this short bit looking good. Of course, there was the last portion, which has become the subject of much speculation. To me, it seems pretty clear that Steph is secretly backing the Legacy at this rate; she's gotten Shane's help to lure him into whatever trap she and Orton have waiting for him, and knows him well enough to know that he'd dive in the way to protect her from Orton's punt kick. Of course, I could be wrong, but this is where all signs are pointing to and I hope that's the case as it would be a great way to go. This segment was short and sweet, and we saw Orton's supposed I.E.D. show up again as he seemed shocked when he kicked Shane; I'm guessing it's an act at this point, and Orton's playing that off well.

MAMAJUANA EMPLOYEE REVIEW TIME: JBL came out, doing the slow and angry walk to the ring in order to draw maximum ire from the fans. He hit the ring and called Shawn down to the ring to do his employee review of him. Shawn came down to his own theme music, the song immediately setting him up as the face after he's been garnering some heat for actually working for JBL. It certainly worked as shown by the HBK chants that started. The boss quickly recapped why Shawn was working for him and pointed out, in case anyone thought otherwise, that he had no altruistic motives. I do have a slight problem with JBL's promo here, as he was willingly and happily admitting to being a Black Hat, mustache-twirling bad guy. I certainly don't mind guys who revel in the heat and say they don't care what the nobody fans think of them, but seriously, Braddy…calling yourself Machiavellian? Did you steal Jericho's thesaurus finally? He gave Shawn a chance to explain himself and Shawn backed himself up pretty well, turning it around and saying that it was JBL's fault that he wasn't getting a main event shot at WrestleMania. JBL no-sold it and just said that Shawn failed, which just drove the crowd nuts. Bradshaw teased firing Shawn, who then got the big pop by saying he wanted to kick JBL's teeth down his throat. This led into a match at No Way Out, with Shawn vs. JBL with HBK's freedom on the line. Well, they're blowing this off early; that's interesting to see. I thought they'd wait until WrestleMania. The gist is that if Shawn wins, he gets his freedom; if he loses, JBL owns Shawn's name and he works for him the rest of his life. Interesting stakes, and it'll be nice to see Shawn finally go over JBL. This was, Machiavellian aside, great work by JBL to sell this match strongly. And we absolutely got the line of the night here: "You're gonna be a dancin' monkey working for JBL." Awesome.

JOHN CENA vs. CHRIS JERICHO: Jericho and Cena have quite a history and work off each other quite well, and tonight was no exception. I'll always give credit where credit is due, and so I have to give Vintage Cole some props for pointing out the little tidbit about Cena making his Raw debut in that very building on Jericho's Highlight Reel. He doesn't often do something right, but I'll give him points for that. The point here was hyping the No Way Out Elimination Chamber match, where Jericho and Cena are both participating, and this worked out well for that. These two can always deliver a quality match against each other and this was no exception; it was a bit shorter then I expect for a TV main event match, but what was there made up for the (relative) shortness. I know some people are arguing that Cena beating Jericho cleanly destroys any potential threat for Cena at No Way Out, but Jericho doesn't need an excuse for a loss in a one-on-one in order to be a threat to beat the man in a six-man cage match where Cena will be the man with a target on his chest. Certainly it would have been nice to see Jericho get a win or even just lose with an excuse, I didn't have a problem with this and it worked just fine for me.

puRgatoRy:

CANDICE MICHELLE vs. BETH PHOENIX: God, I hate Candace's music; its generic dance shit at its worst. She's also quite possibly the worst dresser out of all the Divas; seriously, that red and yellow outfit was just terrible. Beth came down with Santino and Rosa Mendez, who of course is now a Glamazon intern. This was actually not as bad as I was expecting it to be, mostly because Beth was working her ass off; try as she might, Candice has just lost far too much during her injured times to be a particularly effective worker in the ring. Candice got a little offense in here and it didn't look terrible to be sure; this wasn't a great match and the point was to try and build Beth back up after she lost the Women's Title, which it did well enough to avoid the wrong. Not much else to say about this match, which there wasn't much of.

The wRong:

PRICELESS vs. CRYME TYME: Punk and DiBiase came out first for this tag team match, still playing off the sting of those kendo shots from earlier in the show; it's a bit distressing to see that Priceless aren't generating any heat on their own yet. You'd think that Randy's would have rubbed off at least a little by now. Cryme Tyme got their usual moderate pop on the way out. Now, Shad and JTG are guys who look good in the ring when paired with people they know well; the slow improvement of the Cryme Tyme/MnM 2.0 matches is testament to that. However, these four are not yet at the point where they're improving, and the ring work here was far from great. There were no botches, it was just an inordinately boring match without any real flow to it. Shad apparently has his own Five Finger Shuffle/Worm-like elbow drop now, which is called "Thugnificance." Uh, sure…somehow, I don't see that name getting over any. We got the double-team DQ ending, which was sort of silly as they didn't even get the usual tag team five-count, but beating the tar out of Shad post-match managed to get them more heat so I won't complain there. They got a new move with the wheelbarrow-hold DDT, which isn't the most effective-looking move but can get over given time. For this, though, I wasn't impressed.

The Ridiculous:

DID YOU KNOW?: Nope. And, as always, I don't care.

The 411

I tried to find stuff to complain about this week; I really did. Unfortunately there just wasn't a lot to be pissed about here as almost everything delivered. The HBK/JBL segment was great, the Orton vs. Shane stuff advanced quite nicely and even Kofi & Rey Rey vs. Kane and Knox was good. There must have been some kind of charm over this show, because it just delivered all-around and kept things strong moving down the road to WrestleMania; worry not, I'm sure they'll screw something up soon and I'll have plenty of room to bitch.

SHOW RATING: ***¾

Comment Time with Jeremy!

From Empire Of Ownage:
You should also mention that the commercial leading into the second half of the triple threat main event already had HHH in the Elimination Chamber match, giving away the result of the following match. (Yeah, we knew anyways, but still, that's just lazy)

I honestly didn't notice that, Empire. if that did happen, then kudos for noticing and yes, that would have drawn my ire. There's no reason that can't leave him out at least until they've secured his place in the storylines. Good catch!


From Erik:
I love how the IWC complains about getting a fresh product or not seeing the same things over and over, but then complain about the added effects of the Matt Hardy promo. If it wasn't your thing, that's fine...but you have to be able to admit that it was something very different than the standard WWE promo. I for one liked it...it added a lot of importance to the feud and played up the Hardy Boyz past glory days and brotherly love and teamwork...who cares if it was super dramatic, isn't that what wrestling is these days? The IWC is just too damn fickle...

First off Erik, I appreciate you not making me the voice of the Internet Wrestling Community, kay? As has been made very clear in the comments several times, my opinion is not necessarily that of the rest of the wrestling world, and you shoot your argument in the foot by making that particular fallacious point in your argument. Now yes, it was very different then the standard promo. Matt Hardy coming out, stripping all of his clothes off and smearing his own fecal matter over his body while "I'm Too Sexy" is playing would be different then your standard WWE promo, it doesn't mean I want to watch it. I'll give them all the credit in the world when they do something different that works, but I'm not going to jump on an idea and praise it just because it's different; it has to be different and GOOD. I know, I know...I'm so DEMANDING! Anyway, thanks for reading.


From KanyonKreist:
Jeremy, thanks for the anagram overload.

Also, I CAN'T BELIEVE that you still slid that overproduced mess that was Matt Hardy's promo into the Rights. How the hell is anyone supposed to suspend disbelief and buy that we're listening to heartfelt statements when there's specific video footage to accompany specific subjects that the guy's alluding to? And the Days of Our Lives score in the background? *sigh*...

That segment is the kind of thing that Vince McMahon thinks brings in a "mainstream" audience, but actually reminds people how much of a joke "sports entertainment" can be.

Believe me, Kanyon, if Matt hadn't COMPLETELY nailed his promo it would have been far lower on the spectrum then it was. I agree with you about the suspension of disbelief problems and feel that the score and video cuts undecut Matt's effectiveness, but he did such a good job that he still came across as a solid heel and it worked well enough for me to give it a marginal pass this week. We'll see how it goes from here.


From Travis:
A winner is JT for the Clerks 2 reference.

From Guest#0143:
"it then became Triple K. It has nothing to do with the racist organization; I'm takin' it back"

Is that a refrence to Clerks 2?

It is indeed. I'm a Kevin Smith fan, and I thought the "It's okay, I'm taking it back" line was one of the best ones Jeff Anderson's ever delivered in any of Smith's films, so I couldn't help but use it there. Cheap plug time: if you wanna see more of my thoughts on Kevin Smith, check out my review of Zack and Miri Make a Porno on DVD, in the Movies Zone soon! Cross-promotion for the win!


From Cathy K:
See, there was me thinking instead that even the 'E would not be stupid enough to try and convince us that Matt would attack his brother to cost him his title shot at Survivor Series and later attack him for being champion - and yet still have helped Jeff get his title shot at Armageddon by not laying down for Kozlov in the Beat the Clock match.
The only way the attacks make sense is if someone else did them - so the 'E has to either bring in that someone eventually, or drop it and pretend it never happened - because if they do run with 'Matt did it all', then the only conclusion the audience can come to is that Matt is certifiably insane. And not in a good way.

You know...you bring up a very good point Cathy, and that's quite possible. It's also possible the 'E is trying to rely on fans not remembering ANYTHING, but if they do things the way you're pointing out I could see it, especially the insane part. I don't think Jeff needs another adversary, Matt & Edge is enough; of course, it could still be Edge at this point too, who knows? I guess we'll find out eventually...or not, if the 'E drops it as they are wont to do from time to time.


From Tammy:
Come on Jeremy, you're expecting too much from the not-so-creative team. If they didn't have video packages to fall back on, they'd actually have to put in another hour or two of work to come up with some extra matches. They don't have the time or the superstars for that!

You just broke the sarcasm meter, Tammy; well done, madam. Well done.

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By: Larry Csonka

ECW 02.03.08:

The Right:

FINLAY v. SWAGGA: While I hated the "belt chase" last week, I will say that this week's main event between Finlay and SWAGGA made sense. Also, the non-title nature of the match, while being a bit predictable, also makes sense. Finlay wants a shot at the title, but SWAGGA has already defeated him, so in order for him to EARN the title shot, he has to prove that he can beat the champion. Some people always seem to hate on this, but the method is an old one, and one that works. The champion grand stands, claims that the challenger isn't worthy, agrees to a non-title match, the face wins, and then gets the title match. Also, the fans then have the feeling that the face has a chance to win the title in the real title match. The match got a solid amount of time, 10-minutes after the commercial break, and once again these two men had a very good match. They have had limited meetings, but SWAGGA has a ton of potential as noted, and Finlay is Finlay, which means awesome. Finlay's win is fine, since SWAGGA already ate a pin in a tag match, so the undefeated thing meant nothing. Also, it wasn't like he lost clean. The midget got involved, which led to the victory, and that sets up our title match for No Way Out. Finlay is the best option right now for a few reasons. The first is that no one else is built up enough to challenge SWAGGA. Secondly, if SWAGGA is a guy that they feel has future potential, working with Finlay makes the most sense to develop and season him as soon as possible as a performer. Part of me hates that they already had SWAGGA beat Finlay en route to the title, and I also feel that this is panic looking since they took Hardy from the brand. But it isn't a bad plan B to be honest with you.

puRgatoRy:

NONE

The wRong:

DREAMER vs. BURCHILL and THE AFTER MATH: The opening match this week was Tommy Dreamer vs. Paul Burchill, in what I was hoping would be a week of redemption for Dreamer and the start of his chase to the ECW title. For the time they got, just under four minutes, they actually put on a good match. Burchill is motivated with what TV time he gets, and Dreamer works hard. Overall I had no complaints with the match as far as the match goes, but then Dreamer lost. I find myself scratching my head with this Dreamer angle. He essentially gets squashed last week against Henry, and then loses to a guy that can't buy a win on TV to save his life. Don't get me wrong, I like Burchill, but this just made no sense. Plus, the finish looked weak as hell, thusly making Dreamer look even weaker. What followed was Mix and Morrison coming to the ring. They mocked Dreamer, calling him slow, fat and rundown. Miz even mocked him for crying and called him the anti-Ric Flair. This pissed off Dreamer, he fought back and then got beat down again. As of now I am NOT a fan of how they are booking Dreamer. It isn't dead in the water as of yet, but it is NOT off to a good start in my opinion. There is potential here for a good angle, but they haven't shown it as of yet.

The Ridiculous:

NOBLE vs. BOOGEYMAN: Jamie Noble appeared on ECW, which at first made me very happy. He told Teddy long that he was here to save the show because Matt Hardy was now gone, and that he equals ratings. Again, I was very happy to se Noble on the show, because he is the kind of guy that they need. He can work with anyone, and more importantly, he can be that player coach ala Finlay to help develop the talent of the brand. All of that went out the window in his first ECW match, which was against the Boogeyman. Now, while Noble got the best match ever out of the Boogeyman, the whole thing is horrible. You get a FRESH talent to the brand, a guy that can HELP the brand, and you job him out in less than four minutes in his first night. What asshole though that THIS was a good idea? He isn't totally dead in the water, but this was an extremely bad start for his run on the brand. What a shame. Oh, yeah, FUCK the Boogeyman.

The 411

Overall this was a very average episode of ECW, but better than last week. They thankfully have the top program going well, which is important. The Dreamer feud just puzzles me. Some say that they want to establish him as the down and out loser, but he already is that. I personally do not think that program is going well. Also, they completely ruined Noble in night one by having him lose to Boogey, that's a shame. Let's hope that it gets better next week.

As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale. Also, PPV rankings can and will likely change through out the year:

0 - 0.9: Torture
1 - 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 - 2.9: Very Bad
3 - 3.9: Bad
4 - 4.9: Poor
5 - 5.9: Not So Good
6 - 6.9: Average
7 - 7.9: Good
8 - 8.9: Very Good
9 - 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect

SHOW RATING: 5.0

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RETRO TNA Against All Odds 2008~!:

The Matches:

TNA World Tag Team Championship Match: Tomko and AJ defeated BG James and Bullet Bob @ 7:50 via pin * TRASH OF THE NIGHT!

Traci Brooks defeated Miss Banks @ 5:15 via pin *¾

Case vs. Case: Scott Steiner defeated Petey Williams @ 9:30 via pin **½

Drinking Championship: Eric Young defeated James Storm @ 8:10 via pin **½

TNA Knockouts Championship Match: Awesome Kong defeated ODB @ 6:55 via pin **½

Barb Wire Massacre 2: Abyss defeated Judas Mesias @ 15:00 via pin ***

Robert Roode and Booker T went to a Double Count Out @ 9:17 **

Hardcore Street Fight: Motor City Machine Guns & Black Machismo (NEW CHAMPION) defeated Team 3D and Brother Devine @ 13:18 via pin ***¾

TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match: Kurt Angle defeated Christian Cage @ 20:40 via pin **** MATCH OF THE NIGHT!

The Right:

Roode vs. Booker: While it lasted, these guys had a good, intense bout. They brawled to the floor, which works for them, but there was a lot of that on the show and it really takes away from the matches where it should happen, a minor gripe from me. Overall this is about what I expected, a DQ or count out finish to the match due to Booker getting pissed and Roode running, which is what happened. I do feel that the feud has been built very well, and to me this is like JBL vs. Jericho last month in that the finish makes sense, and TNA rarely runs DQ or Count Out finishes, so it seems different and fits. I have really enjoyed how they are booking the feud, and getting Roode over as a complete dick. While he isn't racking up wins against Booker T, he still comes off strong. I also applaud that TNA has not rushed Booker to the main event scene, which is something that they tend to do with Ex-WWE guys. This feud must continue, and that is a good thing.

Barb Wire Massacre 2: Here is the bottom line on this match, you will either love or hate this match. There is no middle ground. If you like stuff bordering on the death match style, then this is for you. The angle going into the match sucked for sure, but they did tone down the weapon crap leading into this, so it meant more and came off well. Mitchell gave another excellent promo leading into this, as did Cornette who sold the match like he was a used car salesmen. They sold the brutality factor and explained that the match couldn't take place in South Carolina due to the Athletic Commission, but that since they advertised it they would deliver. They played it off as live, and if you didn't know you wouldn't have. The match delivered in the brutality department, we got barbed wire, bared wire boards, chairs wrapped in barbed wire and just about everything you could imagine. In the end Abyss got some redemption, but I doubt that it is over. Also, again I have to mention that all of the brawling on the floor in other matches took away from a match like this. They need to be careful of stuff like that. Oh, and a memo to Mike Tenay, who compared Abyss to such hardcore legends as Abdullah the Butcher, Bruiser Brody, Terry Funk, Cactus Jack and the Original Sheik. You're wrong. They never cut themselves up for no reason and they all made tons of money doing what they did.

TNA Knockouts Championship Match: The next match we'll discuss is the Knockouts Title match with ODB challenging Awesome Kong. They had good crowd heat, which was great because I wasn't sure they would outside of the Impact Zone. They had a good match, a little better then I thought it would be, although it was a level below the stuff Kim and Kong did, but it was still good. They worked really hard, Kong looked dominant while ODB didn't lose any steam in defeat. She took Kong to the limit, but in the end fell to the Kong bomb like everyone else. A minor complaint I have is that I don't like the ideal if Riesha interfering at all, even if it isn't that physical, Kong shouldn't need any help. She hasn't needed help up an until this point and I think if that they continue this, they run the risk of damaging her monster aura.

Hardcore Street Fight: Once again I feel that I should mention that all of the brawling on the floor in other matches took away from the stipulation in this match, and they need to stop doing that. That all being said, this was good stuff. Up and until this point the show was fine, it was not bad, not great by any means, solid if unspectacular. In the beginning portion of the match Sabin, Shelley and Lethal got a ton of heat early on and were running wild and the crowd was red hot. They just were owning them and also hit a great three-way plancha spot, we were off and running in a major way. They busted out all of the weapons you would imagine, including the old sign covered in the crowd and the kitchen sink. Seriously, the kitchen sink, I love that gag. Things looked bad when 3Ds took out the Guns, and they were dead. Some feel that this made them look bad, but I loved how they sold the 3D, and with the result of the match, Machismo can move away from them while the Guns and 3D continue their original feud. But while they were gone, something great happened. Ray tried to attack So Cal Val, which is what set him off and the last few minutes were Lethal doing this awesome superman deal and everyone loved it. They made Jay Lethal a STAR as in the end he fought back and single handedly saved the division and won his title back. Lethal got the top rope elbow through a table on Devine, won his title back and now Ray and Devon have to weigh in at 275lbs to compete in TNA. This should lead to wacky weighing in skits, which THAT is something I actually like the idea of. Ray has been gold on interviews, and seeing them trying to make weight will be great. I await the gimmicked scale coming to TNA. In my opinion the one thing that will be vital is the follow up to the match. Lethal was the most piss poor champion of 2007 and into 2008, he looked horrible. They blew it with him after the Angle win, and then with this feud. He looked horrible. But tonight they made him look awesome. I pray that they properly follow up with this, because tonight was one of those performances that makes a star. I HOPE that they actually follow this up, because after a performance like this, you just can't afford to mess it up. I have said that several times, but they really need to not mess this up. Apparently Machismo is a huge merchandize seller and they are looking to push him. Please do not mess this up.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match: And now we come to the main event of the evening. I expected this to be a very good match and again this month they did that. Cage and Angle work so damn well together, and for 16-or so minutes it was rocking my world. The action was well thought out, everything they did was clean, made sense and there wasn't any bullshit. It was awesome. But then as expected, we got the ref bump. Oh yes because we can't have a TNA main event without the ref bump. This is where Joe steps in and is perfectly impartial. Kurt ends up taking Karen out, and things seem to be going Cage's way until AJ runs in. Joe runs him off and they brawl through out the arena and we're left with more good action between Cage and Angle. Angle would then introduce a chair, and that was then when Tomko appeared, took the chair from Angle, and then, you guessed it, hits Cage. Angle retains the title and we see a variation of the same finish that we have been watching for nearly 6-years. The thing is that it DOES make sense and COULD be played well, the whole Tomko run in. I don't think that it is so much him joining Angle as it is him showing Cage that he doesn't need him. But it has no positive effect when you see the same finish every month. Make no mistake about it though, this match was awesome and this makes back-to-back shows that they have delivered big time. It is just a shame that the booking has to fight against the performers so much.

Purgatory:

Case vs. Case: TNA's wacky answer to the Money in the Bank match was still not settled heading into the show. So Steiner and Petey would face off in a match where the winner gets both cases, and in the end possibly two-title shots. I will say that the match was way better than I thought it would be. Scott Steiner continues to prove me wrong when I give upon him and I am glad to be wrong in these cases. I thought that Petey really worked hard and smart, and didn't try to do things Steiner couldn't do. They had a fun match, lots of near falls and the crowd was into it. The finish came with the large woman, who we now know to be Trenesha Biggers, came to the ring and distracted Petey. She was a participant in the 2005 WWE Diva Search and has also worked under the names of Barbie Black, Naomi Banks, and Panther Claw. As mentioned she distracted Petey, and this allowed Steiner to get the win. I felt that this deflated the crowd and took away from a rather hot under card bout. And that is a shame. What else was a shame was the fact that they decided to focus on Steiner and the Woman, and rarely mentioned the cases or allowed for a lot of celebration time because they shot TO THE BACK!

Traci Brooks defeated Miss Banks: After the implosion of Roode and Brooks, and Banks being brought into the fold we moved to Banks vs. Brooks n this show. They had good crowd heat from bell to bell, which is nice to see for women's wrestling and to see outside of the Impact Zone. They brawled early and were heated, I mean, you felt the hate, but the problem is that they went to the floor on the second match on the card, and this complaint is something of a trend. Now don't get me wrong, the heat was there and it makes sense for them to brawl that way, but when you have the barbed wire and hardcore street fight coming, it devalues it when you do it so much. In the end Brooks got the win and some redemption over Banks, which the crowd loved. But I am not sure that I like Brooks winning already as it made her revenge to easy. And I just have the feeling that they can't be done yet, because of they are the blow off comes way too quick and where the hell would Brooks go from here?

The wRong:

TNA World Tag Team Championship Match: Kicking off the show was the TNA World Tag Team Title match, AJ Styles and Tomko defending against the BULLET and BG James. We immediately began on the wrong foot as AJ and Tomko argued on the mic before the match even began. Tag team partners that don't get along, good job Vinny Ru, we get it. Now I want to say that this match could have been a complete disaster. It wasn't, but it also wasn't good. The one main thing is that Tomko, well hell AJ as well had to be way too careful with Bullet Bob, and it hurt the match. AJ and Tomko were working so light with him that is would have looked fake from the peanut gallery. The match was about as good as it could be all things considered, but just not good. AJ and Tomko had a bit of miscommunication, but after AJ hit a missile dropkick to the knee of BG, they would hit the tornado plex and retain. This worked ok to open the show due to the military ties of BG and Bob, and that they had the national Guard troops there. It was also nice to not see AJ and Tomko implode yet, and it was also nice to not see Kip pull the predictable turn. The match never should have happened in the first place.

Drinking Championship And now we come to the Drinking Championship match. They had a match for a fake belt. A belt that represents who can drink the best, well at least we didn't get a bunch of silly drinking segments. One of the biggest issues I had with this match is that they pushed this as a serious title match, more seriously than the other title matches almost with the video packages they ran. How shitty is that? The good news is that as usual, they worked hard and continue to work well together. Storm and Young have good chemistry and are able to make something passable out of the silly booking they have been placed into. But no matter how hard they are working, the silliness of a toy spinner belt with a beer bottle hot glued to it looms over them. The end of the match saw the return of RHINO, who has been gone for many moons. The crowd popped big for him, and he laid out Storm with the GORE! This allowed Young to get the win. I like the Rhino return, it was good and gets Young and Storm separated (I hope) and now we can get back into Rhino vs. Storm and resolve that feud. Rhino was out with neck problems and family issues, and I could actually see them saying he went to rehab and is now back to kick Storm's ass for what he did. While this was a good surprise, the one thing I absolutely hated was Rhino's promo, or lack of promo. He got on the stick and said, "I have a lot to say…but now isn't the time. But Thursday may be." Did we just use the PPV to push the TV show? Again? That is not only ASSBACKWARDS…but is…

NO BUYS!

The Ridiculous:

NADDA~!:

Closing Thoughts:
I thought this show rebounded well from the last one. It had a better flow and the last two matches delivered big time. The under-card, while nothing outstanding was all solid stuff outside of the tag title match. The feel good moment we got with Machismo was something special, and I just pray that they follow up well on it. Overall I will go with a 7.5 out of 10 for the show with a slight recommendation to buy. I say slight because the barbed wire match isn't for everyone and the under-card was mainly solid. But if you want a reason to buy the show the final two matches are that reason. All six worked hard and put on a show in the Street Fight while Cage and Angle flat out delivered yet again, even with the crap ending. In the end this was a good rebound show, and I hope that they can keep it up.


And I'm out of here!